Trams Derailed by Rams Raiders

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 26 December 2015 at the Croydon Sports Arena
Result	Croydon 1 Croydon Athletic 2
Competition	Southern Counties East Premier Division (Step 5)
Hopping	Ground 580 and the first trip for me (due to work reasons) since September.
Pre-match preparation
None whatsoever.  I was on my way to Corinthian Casuals for a 1.00pm kickoff when the M25 western section scuppered my plans (not for the first time).  Plan B was this 3.00pm kickoff.  I arrived with about 20 minutes to spare to find friendly staff, apologetic about the lack of clubhouse and teabar today.  I took the news well, bought a golden goal ticket, made my usual joke about the certainty of nil-nil, and pulled out the no-score ticket.  Finding out that this fixture is The Trams v The Rams cheered me up slightly.  I watched the game from the main stand.
This match in one sentence
A late consolation goal for Croydon after the visitors went down to ten men, but the result never really seemed in any doubt.
So what?
Athletic up to 13th and Croydon down to 18th.
The drama unfolds
Louis Blake poked the ball home to give Athletic the early lead.  C11 had bought a free-kick from the ref on the edge of the area and the delivery caused chaos in the home defence.  0-1 after 3 minutes They should have scored a second after half-an-hour (Blake shooting over from close range) and another before the interval (Raheem Sterling-Parker caught between crossing and shooting).  0-1 at half-time Croydon played better in the second half but with no real end product.  The visitors’ second goal came from a far-post corner which was not cleared.  The ball came back into the middle to be bundled home from close range by Sterling-Parker.  0-2 after 66 minutes With nine minutes to go, Callum Maclean got a second yellow, and so a red, taking Athletic down to ten men.  Croydon pulled back a late consolation goal through Karl Douglin, and then had the tiniest sniff of an equaliser, but the stronger team held on for the win. 1-2 after 89 minutes, and final score also 1-2
Ground Pix
Croydon play in a ground with an athletics track.  Croydon Athletic don’t.  The area is a building site at the moment and there is nothing picturesque about it whatsoever.  However, all pales into insignificance as I have had to create a new spreadsheet category (alongside planes, trains, ships, buses) for TRAMS! The Trams (blue) and A Tram (green) Unbelievable.
Match Pix
Five Years of Modus Hopper Random
A quick check of the annals showed that my December hopping was messed up by the M25 five years ago too! http://modushopperrandom.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/sinking-feeling-in-cinque-port-hythe.html
Goalkeeper Top Colour Stats
Orange beats grey and the two colours swop places in the table.  Full table appears in the blog from time to time.
What Next?
Watch @GrahamYapp on Twitter for details!  Thanks to everyone reading this after my long break from hopping this season.  Work demands have often left me too exhausted or with too little time to take on the driving and travelling at weekends during term-time, and this may well continue for some time yet.  I am going to try to complete my remaining Step 3 grounds before the end of the season, but that may be about all I can do.  Bear with me!

Welcome to Eversley and California, It's a Lovely Place

Hopperational details
Date & Venue	Saturday 7 April 2013 at the Eversley Sports Association Ground.
Result	Eversley & California 1 AFC Croydon Athletic 2
Competition	Combined Counties League Div One Cup Semi-Final (Step 6)
Hopping	511 on the lifetime list – chosen for me because it sounded interesting by Tweeter friend @cat_daisy.  That’s random enough for me on the day when most people use the same method for picking Grand National bets.
Pre-match preparation
Both teams placed in the top half of their league table.  Eversley & California are still in with a shout for the title, but that is probably unlikely now for AFC Croydon Athletic.
This match in one sentence
AFC Croydon Athletic took a while to get into their stride but two goals in quick succession just before the break proved enough.
So what?
AFC Croydon Athletic will play either Staines Lammas or Feltham in the final - their semi-final is played on Tuesday.
The drama unfolds
Thanks to the AFC Croydon Athletic website for help in identifying scorers. E&C started strongly with Neil Williams posing a threat.  An early effort hit the side netting.  It took them 23 minutes to take the lead, however.  It was a soft walk-in goal for number 9 Chris Fox after the offside defensive line had been broken.  The lead was entirely deserved at this point.  1-0 I took three short clips in quick succession around the 30 minute mark.  E&C are in the yellow-and-blue.  The first one finishes with an offside flag - would it have been a penalty if onside, I wonder?  The others show Athletic getting into the game and starting to make Richard Shelley work in the home goal. The visitors responded to the deficit and took control of the game with two goals shortly before the interval.  Daniel Cumber crossed from the right and it looped up and over the keeper to nestle in the net, not unlike a goal I scored for Selwyn College Third Team back in 1977-78.  I told everyone then that I meant it, and I trust he will do the same.  1-1 after 39 minutes Alan Bidi-Lacadoug then smacked a shot in from a central position and the game had been turned round.  1-2 after 41 minutes and at HT Within one minute of the restart, Neil Williams was bearing down on the Croydon goal again.  With the keeper beaten, his shot cannoned back off the post.  E&C put two subs up front but the second half proved to be a scrappy affair as Croydon sat back and looked for the break, and the home side got more desperate.  With 15 minutes left, they came close with this placed effort (by Jermaine Hamilton?) that went into the side-netting.  Generally speaking, the Croydon defence held firm. I took a few more clips in the closing minutes.  In the last one, E&C keeper Richard Shelley came up for a corner and won the first header – but only a cynical foul stopped Croydon from breaking away to score.  The referee did not allow them to take the freekick quickly, which rather rewarded the defender despite his yellow card.  The result was not affected, though, and the whistle went a few seconds later.  Final score 1-2
The programme
Something random
Eversley & California is a new club name for 2012-13 – Eversley FC have formally merged with California FC, who are a youth football club taking their name from the California district of Wokingham.  Together with the cricket club they have developed a large and impressive site which is leased from an aggregates company.  It is a work in progress but will be a fantastic facility. AFC Croydon Athletic is a “phoenix” club.  I last saw them in their previous incarnation going very well with a one-sided win at Ashford Town (as they were then) in Kent, three years ago to the day.  Then in 2012 their owner was arrested and eventually given a prison sentence for his part in a cricket spot-fixing scandal in the England v Pakistan series.  The club did not survive, and the new club plays at a different venue.
Hopping for Moorfields Update
I have double-checked the figures and can confirm that we are now running at 178 goals from 51 games at an average of 3.49 per game.  This was the 11th three-goal game of the season.
Mars Bar Watch 2013
Two standard 58g bars for £1.00 at the Shell petrol station on the A405 just off the M25 towards St Albans.  If you have the self-control to save one for later, this is the cheapest confirmed price of the season so far.
What Next?
Hitchin Town v Bedworth United at Top Field tomorrow evening (Monday 8 April) and, if the Yappmobile gets through its service in good time, maybe the Staines Lammas v Feltham semi-final on Tuesday.